§ MAJOR RASCH (Essex, S.E.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether Reservists, on receiving appointments as telegraphists, have their Reserve pay of 6d. per diem deducted from their salary during their period of service with the Reserve?
*THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (Mr. CAMPBELL-BAXNERMAN,&c.) Stirling,I find that under the Regulations of the Postmaster General, made in 1885, men of the first-class Reserve appointed to the Post Office as telegraphists have their Reserve pay deducted from the Post Office salary of their position, partly to equalise their emoluments with those of other telegraphists, and partly because, though belonging to the Reserve, their time counts towards superannuation on their Post Office wages. Their service in the Reserve is compulsory under their original enlistment. Men in the supplemental Reserve, in which service is voluntary, do not have a deduction made from their Civil wages. The arrangement as it now stands does not commend itself to me, and I will inquire into it further.